


Roland comes back for his OWN happy ending

by Hawkbringer



Category: Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Video Game)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Aged-Up Character(s), Changing Tenses, Domestic Fluff, Eventual Romance, I left in the notes, Id Fic, Interspecies Relationship(s), King Evan Pre Ferdinand, M/M, On Hiatus, Post-Canon, Rough Draft, Stream of Consciousness, Teenager Evan, This is the happily ever after story, awkwardly, canon-typical de-aging, political work, sleeping in someone's bed, unfinished work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:07:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23481457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkbringer/pseuds/Hawkbringer
Summary: Roland just appears one day. He feels the pull, the same way he felt it when he left Evermore. He returns, and there is no emergency. There is no 'reason' for it. He just does. He and Evan agree that this is Roland's turn for a happy ending. (written oct 2018)
Relationships: Roland Crane & Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum, Roland Crane/Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Roland didn't even HUG Evan when he disappears back to Eaglandia (or whatever its name is) at the end of the game. Super disappointed. So I wrote this id-fic to GIVE Roland that happy ending I wanted for him, in Evermore, de-aged AGAIN, now over 100 mentally, wiser than any king, to spend another century at Evan's side. 
> 
> This is totally an id-fic. Don't think too hard about the plot holes, how the magic works, or what Evermore's age of legal consent is. Evan is KING so in my eyes, he can do what he wants. :3

Warning: This entire first chapter is stream-of-consciousness notes to set the stage for the rest of the chapters. I hope you enjoy this mess:

I REALLY WANNA GIVE ROLAND HIS OWN HAPPILY-EVER-AFTER. So let's say he just appears one day. 

Everything has been settled in Eaglandia or USA or Terra or some shit. Evan's been surviving without him and all, but Roland returns. Not for any purpose. He's just /done/ over there. Same way he was just done over /here/ and was forced to leave. He'd done all he could in the second country, so it was time to go back to his first one. 

But it's over. 

His kid is grown, the peace is stable, politically everything is in good hands, and he's very much old enough now that there'd be nothing left to him back there but to rest on his laurels and grow older and continue to tell his story, serve as an elder, a living legend. (shit, tho, that don't actually sound too bad...) 

But there was a price to the peace, there always was. Lots of 'the past' had to be devalued. Not /burned/, exactly, they weren't going to /lose/ their history, Roland was sure that wouldn't be necessary. But the /perspective/ had to shift. Everyone had to /devalue/ the past. (That whole 'don't trust anyone under 30' mentality from the 60s, revived. WHOOPS, I MEANT OVER 30, THAT GAVE THAT SENTENCE A WHOLE NEW MEANING DIDNT IT, YIKES.) So it wasn't that he was /undervalued/, exactly, but his accomplishments were kind of diluted, swept under the rug. 

The price for unification was /truth/. Certain narratives had to be suppressed. Certain /types/ of freedoms had to be suppressed, including, they found to their dismay, the freedom to choose your own path in life, to travel far from home for long periods of time without supervisions... It wasn't /ideal/. The process had been so much longer and messier and seemed so much more unstable than in Evan's world... The President thinks this is because there were so very many /more/ nations to persuade than in Evan's world, and they are all much more used to peace. It wasn't that every /one/ of them was politically corrupt, war-mongering, or isolationist. Of course not. Large tracts of them got along pretty well, with some exceptions. It was just how badly those tracts differed in terms of technology, resources, goals, desires, that sort of thing. They were all so different, and they /wanted/ different things. 

This fact will befuddle Roland later when he learns of the advancements being made to equalize and improve the natural capabilities that differ between races in the other world. Humans with their propensity towards allergies and back injury, dogfolk with their propensity for lung disease, merfolk and their water-home-sickness, that sort of thing. (Perhaps they discover it's almost salmon-mating-instinct-like, and it's cured by sending them back to Hydropolis? Or it was just in their chemistry to hate drying out as much as humans get weird infections in their ears and fungi between their toes and shit, if they're too /wet/ all the time? Anyway.) 

So he wonders why, with such drastic species-centered natural divisions, they STILL get along better than the humans, who were all the same /species/ at least. 

Evan explains that magic is a huge equalizing force here. 

"Well," he admits, "But that's only cuz nobody's using it for evil." 

"Huh. Or income inequality." 

"Oh, no! Why, we would never want /that/! That was a huge problem in Goldpaw, don't you remember? That's why they got so greedy in the first place! It's no good having SOME people be rich while other people can't afford to eat or sleep on real beds!" 

And Roland sighs then, sighs with something like relief, and puts a hand on top of Evan's head, even though it's much more awkward with his height what it is now, just to ruffle up hair. "Hey!" he shouts, readjusting his crown and glaring at the offender. 

"I'm just so glad you're king, Evan. You're such a good-hearted man. And..." He slid the hand in Evan's hair down to his majesty's forehead and flipped his fringe up with the side of his palm, and kissed him there. /I love you./ 

"Mm," Evan hummed in grumpy acquiescence, the glare softening as he rearranged his hair and crown back into place. "Love you too." Roland can never keep the smile off his face when he hears Evan say that. It makes /everything/ seem worthwhile, in a way no previous moments of resting on his laurels really /had/. Partially, of course, it stems from knowing that he's /done/. Knowing that, if he's ever 'called' like that again, it'll mean his death in this realm. Or the next one. It'll mean 'on to the next great adventure.' So everything before that moment, here, is real. Trustworthy. Right. Maybe he can't trust every citizen in this kingdom, but he can trust his king. 

(and here Roland gets all maudlin on me, thinking about death and distrust and betrayal. WHY, is he so damn depressed when I write him? He's a father-figure, calm, instructive sass-master with fuckin' sword, gun, and ninja skills. He only has /one/ moment of doubting himself in the ENTIRE game, right when Evan names him Chief Consul. And that's him more feeling like their worlds were too different for him to be able to offer good consul, not that he was /unable/ to /give/ consul.)

/You either die a Leonhard, or live long enough to see yourself become a Mausinger/. That idea did not have any place in his head, in his world now, and Roland swore upon his own life that he would kill himself before he would ever betray his king. /Not that there's anyone left to betray him TO, even. No enemies, currently./ 

Roland wrapped Evan in a one-armed hug to try and stave off imaginings of new threats that would surely rise from this new world order, promised to redouble Evermore's efforts to find those left behind, to take them in and help them prosper. 

/Everyone's got their heads on straight here. There's just no room for that kind of racism. Sure, there'll be some new form that pops up, later, but for now... We can do /right/ by that quote on the Statue of Liberty. We can give everyone a home, food, shelter, and contentment. But to do that, we can't ever let them break free./ 

/Why would I want freedom?/ he wonders to himself, recalling the second half of that poem. /There's nowhere else I'd rather be trapped than in my King's arms.../ (Ooooo, nice lead-in for a sub-Roland-in-bondage scene!)

Written 14th May 2018


	2. He Appears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> written originally 13th may 2018

He just appears one day. 

Nothing's wrong. 

The kingdom is humming along nicely, everyone's working on their personal pet projects. 

Evan is focused on building a social safety net for people unable to work currently, or again, or at all. (the injured/pregnant, old, and disabled.)

Bracken is working on medical devices made of magical ore, trying to get them to conduct sensations to the nerves of their wearers. 

Batu has his hands full at the Barracks, trying to convert the various armies to police forces, trying to work out deployment schedules for worldwide patrols, with Tani's help, of course. 

Leander's gone, or, well, not gone - he's preparing a whole new settlement outside the kingdom's borders for the merfolk of Hyrdropolis to come and live at, since they develop sicknesses from staying on land too long, and the geomancers insist the volcanic eruption is supposed to arrive right on schedule. He has his hands full with moving /literally an entire nation/ by ship, and is spending long hours trying to decipher the accents of the Capstan-upon-Hull workers who came over for the ship-building season, trying to work out a ship design that would convert out into housing after landing without much trouble. 

(He's perhaps the most overworked of the bunch, given that Queen Nerea is spending almost all her time with their new baby, and made it very clear to Leander that when the whelp had stopped nursing, he'd be handed off to Leander almost exclusively so that she could get some fucking sleep. Poor man needs a village to help him... But he's also in charge of moving literally all of it! Broadleaf's energy potions are certainly helping in that regard, but Tani is about to get wind of this unhealthy behavior and set off Batu, who will wrangle Leander away from the shipyard. Without his motivating presence, construction will be set back by an unacceptable two months because they can make the best ships on the damn seas, but they can't do it /fast/. Then Evan will have to step in to split up Batu and Leander, who can both be incredibly stubborn when they've put their minds to it.)

Evan's in his throne room, standing at a window, a quiet moment caught in between chatting with his advisers, thinking very vague but fuzzily-pleased thoughts about Ferdinand, and when he might arrive (as though the child were just another prospective citizen who would step off a boat one day). And what Evan might like to do when he does. He definitely wants to be sure the lad doesn't have to assume the throne before his age of majority, at the /very/ least. He'd /have/ to have a good education... 

(Hell, if Ferdinand's thing is that he's been able to send his mind through time, what if he's some weird time-flung orphan that the Professor of the time-traveler-clan brings to Evan one day, saying only, 'this is Ferdinand. He is your son, correct?' and Evan just stands up from his chair, his THRONE, sorry, and holds his arms out for the fussing toddler. /It's the absolute worst age to get a baby,/ the Professor mutters to herself. /The Terrible Twos.../ But when he tucks the babe into the crook of his elbow and places his other hand over his head, the babe stops fussing and rolls over and settles down to sleep. Both of them stare at the babe for a couple seconds, bamboozled, then Evan glances up with forced cheerfulness on his tear-streaked face, and simply declares, /Yep, he's mine/. Perhaps as Ferdinand ages, Evan disappears more and more from his life, going on more adventures further out to field. He /sees/ him enough, but Ferdinand /lives/ at the palace. When he goes on 'field trips' it's always the others who take him. His father seems like more of a regal-studies tutor than some of his other tutors do. Which is why he feels like he has so much more to learn from his dad that he sends his mind through time to talk to him at points where Evan hasn't met him yet. So Evan and Roland just live at the palace until Evan feels like Ferdinand is ready to take over the country, I suppose. THEN THEY FUCK OFF TO BECOME CAVE-DWELLERS FOR THEIR HONEYMOON AND WANDER THE WORLD TOGETHER.)

"Wha- Evan! Is that you?" That voice, he /knows/ that voice, who could be doing such a good /imitation/ of--

Evan spins around, his hands up at his shoulders and his eyes wide in just the same surprised reaction pose he always used to assume when being shouted at. 

"It is, it must be!" 

Evan couldn't process what he was seeing. He... must be going blind. He blinks. Or mad. 

"Am I... seeing things?" he mutters dazedly as arms wrap around him, as a /smell/ fills his nostrils, a smell he never thought he'd experience again... He doesn't return the hug, doesn't react at all, really, just slowly closes his mouth as the apparition steps back, clapping both hands onto his shoulders and grinning hugely at him. 

"My /boy/, how you've grown! You're almost as tall as me now!" 

"Roland.... You look... almost exactly the same! You... aren't a ghost?"

That deflates the ecstatic man a little bit. "A ghost? What? No, Evan, I'm not dead. I'm /here/, I'm really here!" He stoops a little and shakes the young king by the grip he has on his shoulders. "Are you... Are you feeling all right?" 

Evan doesn't really respond. He blinks a little. He isn't feeling anything right now, if he's being honest with himself. He thinks this is how Bracken's precious machines must feel, when they've got wires crossed somewhere and their personalities drain away until someone fixes them. Empty and cold. It must be some kind of sickness. (It's nothing so dire, he's just in denial for a little bit.)

"It... doesn't feel real," Evan manages to explain. He still hasn't tried to lift his arms or touch Roland yet, afraid he'll burst like a soap bubble if he tries. "Am I... dreaming?"

Roland's face smooths out then, rubbing Evan's shoulders briskly as though to warm them. "No, Evan..." he lowers his voice. "M sorry if I startled you. It's not a dream." He takes a moment to breathe in and out, his true smile coming back, eyes flicking about Evan's face. "I'm real. I'm really here. Look," he encourages, letting his hands slide down Evan's sleeves and then lifting one of his hands out to chest-height. "Take my hand. You'll see." 

With trepidation written clearly all over Evan's longer, older face, the young king lifts his own hand and slowly touched his fingertips to Roland's, gingerly, tapping a few times hesitantly before settling. Roland chuckles, a sound so familiar that Evan's head snaps up, something like fear in his wide eyes. 

"Go on, it's totally safe, I promise! I'm not gonna go poof and disappear. It was a slower process last time, anyway..." He turns his head and lets his gaze linger on the view outside the window Evan had just been staring out of himself, not 10 minutes ago, contemplating what he'd seen of the future when he was too young to ask the right questions (like who was Ferdinand's MOTHER,) not at all prepared. Not at all ready for his life to /change/ like this again. Like the first time Roland had appeared in a flash of light and confusion, followed by explosions. 

"Last time..." Evan croaks out, his voice hoarse from the internal confused screaming he'd been doing, apparently, not from any actual /use/ of it. 

"Mm?" Roland hummed to encourage him to speak, like he had done /so many times/ in the past, when Evan was younger, /when Roland was here/. Those beautiful days, fraught with danger and hope, so much different than the domestic, political, everyday squabbles of keeping a country in running order when everybody and their mother was determined to disturb the peace with misunderstandings and shouting matches... 

Better days, he thought to himself. Ended too soon. There were yet still adventures to go on, with this man by his side. There were yet still places to explore, people to meet, friends to make. Yes, /friends/ to make, friends met in high places, low ones, strange and familiar ones. 

Evan lifts his face towards his oldest friend, and his brow tightens like he's made a choice. 

"Last time, you left too soon."


	3. He Mourns

"I know," Roland sighs, eyes tightening before he drops his head. "I... wish I could've--" Evan cuts him off, jumping forward and flinging his arms around him.

"I didn't get to tell you thank you for your service, let alone how good a friend you've been to me this whole time..." Evan's shoulders relax, and he nuzzles his nose into Roland's collar, the same guard's overcoat he'd been wearing when he left, last time. 

He got to /say it/, this time, and now he feels at peace. 

It was never far from his mind, his regrets from working with Roland. He'd had so few, after all, and now that he's thanked him, now that he's /hugged him properly/, they're assuaged. He makes a mental promise to himself that he will, /this/ time, ACT on whatever wishes he has, in Roland's presence. He'll /tell/ him he appreciates him, he'll /tell/ him when he's acting shifty... He'll do everything in his power to /earn/ that trust back, too, so if they have to pull some sort of complicated plan like that again, he'll be /ready/. He'll go into it with both eyes open, with no more fears.

Roland chuckles, a sigh leaving in the same breath, as he settles one hand at the back of Evan's head against his chest. "This whole time? How long as it been? Here, I mean." His smile falls slightly. "In my world, it was almost 20 years..." 

"That long!?" Evan exclaims, springing back from his dear Chief Consul, planning subconsciously to reinstate his title as soon as possible. "Here it was... about 7." Evan pauses because he doesn't want to admit that the date is etched into his mind, that the anniversary marks the start of one week that he spends alone, in pilgrimage, wandering the outskirts of allied towns and territories - watched over by a fleet of the sky-pirates that pass by overhead. That he hasn't forgotten. 

In those few months, Roland came to mean as much to Evan as his own father did - he'd probably spent about the same number of waking hours in the company of both, if he felt inclined to do the sums... But there are no sums to do now, no need to keep counting, no need to face the next rainy season with a bittersweet-feeling heart. Roland was... Roland /is/, back, and that's all that mattres.

Roland's face lifts again. "Not /that/ long then! I mean, in the grand scheme of things, right? Tell me, what did I miss...?" 

"Yes, you need a grand tour!" Evan declares brightly to himself, and merrily clasps one of Roland's hands in his and fairly /prances/ to the doors. Roland laughs, nearly stumbling over his younger, longer legs to keep up - Evan's legs are longer too and they jog together side by side, beaming like idiots as they goad each other on, racing through the courtyard and not even stopping to talk to any of the numerous citizens who remember and recognize Roland. There would be time enough for that later. 

There would be time enough for /everything/, now, Evan thinks with a budding warmth in his chest, like the sun was truly starting to rise and illuminate the dew on the grass in the morning. The silence and the shock from before was wearing off as he watched Roland's face turn red in uneven splotches from the exercise, as sweat gathered at his brow. He was /imperfect/ and /real/ and nothing was going to get in his way now.

Motivated by his burst of energy, Evan peels ahead, leaving Roland to jog to a stop and brace both hands on his knees, heaving for breath. They've been heading towards Lofty's shrine and Evan summons his Kingmaker with both hands outstretched while Roland watches - the clouds swirling overhead into a tiny cyclone that a full-sized dragon curls down along with the vortex-cone, that would usually signal danger and destruction, but since THIS force of nature has a personality, there is nothing to fear from him. 

When the King and Kingmaker touch, a flash of light obscures them both, and when it vanishes, Evan is jogging along with a very tiny, bouncy, faerie on his shoulder, tugging on Evan's crown and doing flips in the air, shouting and staring right in Roland's direction. The old man, again made new, tries to catch his breath for real this time, as the townsfolk have started streaming out of their buildings, alerted by the flash of light that Evan intends for some official business to begin, if not already gleefully following the blur of robes and coat that left the castle some minutes ago. The crowd begins to crush in close, and Evan presses into Roland's front, wrapping his arms around him again just because he /can/. 

Lofty shouts in Roland's ear, grabs his ponytail in one tiny mitten-like hand, and bounces up to the top of his head. Roland winces - the little bugger is surprisingly hefty - but out-and-out shrieks when Lofty transforms with his back claws still perched on Roland's head. The faerie-turned-dragon elongates from the head first, and seems to have no need to heed gravity, so he becomes /less/ heavy as he spirals up into the sky, scaring the nearby populace into stepping back. He eventually lifts off of Roland's body completely, curling into a protective circle around the two men, letting smoke trail from his prodigious nostrils and letting out a low, earth-rumbling purr that convinces all the thronging citizens to take a step or two back. 

Evan squeezes Roland's shoulder before leaving his side, clambering with surprising ease to the crested frills on the back of Lofty's head. He casts a voice-amplifying spell that Roland watches the motions of with interest, and addresses the crowd.

(explains they will hold official visiting hours tomorrow, spread the word, we'll have a lottery for place in line, and of course, Roland will make the rounds to the various cultural hot-spots, including (name of black cat, Felix was it??)'s Cafe, and you can all leave your gifts and cards for him at your favorite tavern, pub, shop, barracks (local attraction?? that aint quite right...) and we'll pick them up there... He's here for good, everyone, there's no need to rush in to see him! Think of your older neighbors!)

As the crowd disperses - a few extremely determined lads stick around to shake Roland's hand - Evan notices the damage done to Roland's scalp by Lofty's launching from his head, and insists to Tani - who had shown up in the crowd and was of course refusing to leave by just intimidation tactics or polite reminders of civic responsibilities (Evan finds himself thankful multiple times a day that she is his ally, and not an enemy. He would have /such/ a terrible time convincing her to leave... Much like the former barbarian that used to assault Evermore on the regular, but gave up after a good lunch or two, he probably would have eventually invited her in to stay /anyway/... Thank the gods no one had to get hurt or killed first...) - that he will personally take care of Roland's wounds. 

Their walk back to the castle is much more sedate. Bracken arrives, having to be called away from her research by the once-again-shrunken Kingmaker, who truly /adores/ running errands now that the citizens revere and feed him copiously, insists on at least 10 of them before he'll agree to leave back up to the sky-realm or wherever it is Kingmakers go when they're not around... (It's one of his strange quirks, but Evan supposes it /does/ make sense for the protector of the Realm to want to see how his Realm is getting on, doesn't it? Some Kingmakers are more involved than others, after all, and he is /astonishingly/ young, and thus still as curious as any 'infant' - but don't you dare say THAT word to his face, he is still extremely powerful, and gets moreso every day, with every squabble and disagreement mediated, with every citizen fined or jailed or banished - though banishments have been very few - with every kingly decision Evan makes, for good or ill, he gains power, and the kingdom flourishes beneath their joint rule.) 

She's the de-facto medic for the castle, and hasn't had her emergency skills tested in the past 7 years nearly as often as she did during her adventures with them. She and Roland talk a mile a minute about innovations and ideas and how far the Leafbook and Holo-slate memory-storage cards have come. He mentions the idea of bio-authentication, and her eyes light up in /just/ that way that has Evan groaning and rolling his eyes, sure now that it'll be ages before he can have his Consul back to himself again. But with the voice-recorder Bracken whips out after finishing the spray-bandage application, it actually doesn't take long at all and they're cheerily parting ways within the hour, something Evan is ecstatic about and clearly wasn't expecting.

"Well, um, it's still several hours until supper-time, so unless you want to go to the cafe...?" Roland shakes his head with a smile on his lips and Evan listens raptly.

"I'm actually rather, well... The transition seems to have taken a lot out of me, as far as I can tell, and the initial buzz has worn off. Is there, somewhere I could go to take a nap?" He holds a hand to his temple rather sheepishly, rubbing at the throbbing vein there.

"Oh! Oh yes, of course, we must get you somewhere to sleep for the night, shan't we!" 

"With a minimum of pomp and circumstance, if you don't mind, Evan," Roland adds dryly, glancing out the nearby window to the large plaza where they'd been mobbed and nearly trampled - though of course with Evan's mastery of various magics, there was no /real/ danger of that happening.

"Mmm, privately, you mean?" 

"Right. There's no need to call in all the servants /right/ now. They can set up while we're at dinner! Actually, Batu might even want to hold another huge party again..." Roland puffs out his cheeks and sighs long and slow. 

Evan laughs even as his ears twitch back, betraying his instinctive dislike of the idea. "He does like to have those feasts, doesn't he!" 

"Yeah... and I'm not much in the mood for drink or meat." 

"Mm," Evan murmurs noncommittally, walking slightly behind Roland as they pick out the old path towards Roland's old chambers, neither of them really sure what sort of state they'll find them in. "Would you mind telling me what you /would/ like to eat? I promise not to go and order it as soon as you look away..." he insists with a cheeky grin on his face that makes Roland narrow his eyes, not believing him, just for show. 

"Just a whole lotta vegetables, actually. Maybe a stew?" 

"Vegetable stew, that DOES sound good actually," Evan nods to himself as they round a corner and discover a door open that shouldn't be. 

"OH MY GOODNESS!" Evan shrieks aloud, nearly frightened to find a window opened, not broken, but just absentmindedly forgotten about, that had allowed several local birds and insects to flutter and flit about - inside the castle... "This will take AGES to clean out!" he groans, already mentally preparing to call the servants and the master gardeners to move the insect-hives without danger to the nearby populace... 

"I guess we're going to your place then," Roland offers lightly. 

"My... place?" Evan turns to him. "This whole castle is my place, what do you-" Then his face changes, in a way Roland is not sure he's seen before, and he falls silent. 

"Oh? Your rooms not ready either? I can imagine you have servants come in every day..." 

"NO! No-no, i-it's not that!" Evan holds a demure curled fist up to his face and won't meet Roland's eyes. "it's just that I've... only one bed and..." 

"Evan." His flat delivery convinces Evan to glance up shyly, the pink flush showing clearly thru his pale, yellow skin. "Your bed is the size of a small island. 12 people could fit into without touching. There is NOTHING to be worried about on that front." He blinks twice, thinking of another potential hurdle. "Unless you don't want me to undress for--" 

"WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS," Evan declares with a burst of testosterone-fueled power to his voice that surprises Roland into silence. Evan places his hands at the middle of Roland's back and steers him resolutely out of the impromptu wildlife sanctuary that used to be his chambers, several years ago. "YOU WILL GO TO SLEEP AND I WILL MAKE YOU SOUP AND THAT IS FINAL." 

"/You're/ going to make me soup?" Roland looks back askance over his shoulder as he barely uses his own leg-power to march down the hallway, with the way Evan is pushing at him. "Are you sure it's going to be edible?" Evan growls lightly under his breath, ducking his head and watching Roland's heels appear and disappear from beneath his greatcoat's hem for a moment before making up his mind. 

"I'll ask Tani," he decides after a moment, once they've stopped in front of his door. "I'm sure she knows how. I have the best help in the world, after all. I'm sure I'll be able to do it!" 

"Okaaaaay..." Roland agrees with some reluctance, holding out the vowel with a drop of his chin that incites several kinds of agitation in Evan's frenzied little brain and he just wants to swipe it off his face like a wadded-up paper ball. He reminds himself, before Roland can finish his reminder to 'let the experts finish up if it gets to be too hard' or something similar, that he's not going to hold back his impulses anymore, so that he doesn't have any regrets, so he shoots out his hand to cover Roland's mouth and lets a hiss out from between his teeth until Roland's mouth stops moving against his palm. He can barely think of the rest of his sentence once Roland's eyebrows lift and he has the man's full attention. 

"Stop with the kiddie-talk. I'm 19 now." Roland's eyelids fly open quite comedically and Evan rolls his eyes and drops his hand. "Yes, yes, I know, I don't /look it/, I'm aware... But I can /do/ things like this now. I can learn. I'm king of a whole, giant country! What's one little bowl of soup?" He smiles down at Roland with a slight tilt to his head and Roland blinks at him a few times longer than normal. "Won't you trust me?" 

"Always, Your Majesty," Roland breathes out quietly, like he's barely aware of having to /think/ the words. It puts a smug, self-satisfied smile on Evan's face and he tilts his chin back up and spins cockily in place, the waving of his hair retreating back down the corridor, off to do only he-knows-what in search of some vegetable soup.

As Roland turns slowly in place to open the door to Evan's rooms, he's thinking... /Maybe... I didn't come back for /my/ happy ending...Maybe I came back for /you/.../

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter, and the insultingly-short intro to the next, was written the 26th of march 2020. So. Ya know. It's not totally abandoned yet...


	4. The Dinner

It turns out, Evan was /not/ able to make any vegetable soup, but not for lack of trying... He got waylaid partway to the kitchens and just could not extricate himself. He solved another three problems and promoted two people before remembering to glance out the window and spying the setting sun. The Black Cat Cafe would be gearing up for the dinner rush, and the Little Goldpaw quarter would be comparatively empty this weekend; there was a major festival that many of them were traveling to go attend in their hometowns. there might be some hot noodles the King could acquire, that he wouldn't have to wait in a three-hour line for.. Well, not that the /king/ had to wait in a three-hour line for /anything/, unless he wanted to - but he often /tried/ to go incognito, to not take up anyone else's place in line... He just really hasn't gotten the hang of wig-wearing yet...

Roland himself was just waking up from a nice nap and was pulling on his greatcoat again, strangely eager to see the king again after waking up in sheets that smelled so much like him, having dreamed of the lasting peace he had achieved in his home country, of his smiling son and his beautiful daughter... Of his long-dead wife welcoming him home with open arms, eager to share with him what she'd known and seen. Everyone was well, everyone was happy, and there was nothing else to do but seek his own pleasure in this world. He wanted to start by going out to dinner.


End file.
